Wow. what a great post. I didn't have the reading deficiency, but I definitely educated myself during the 12 years of Publick Misedumacation in the stacks every other Saturday at the Denver Public Library, wandering around and reading whatever interested me in science fiction, history, aviation, etc.
Wow. what a great post. I didn't have the reading deficiency, but I definitely educated myself during the 12 years of Publick Misedumacation in the stacks every other Saturday at the Denver Public Library, wandering around and reading whatever interested me in science fiction, history, aviation, etc.
Wow, a good friend that I thought was just uninterested in reading/school, turned out to have a serious learning disability with a horrific birth history. He was very bright, reading just not his thing. Could take apart and reassemble anything with a motor. Since school was not hard for me, I had no clue til I worked at high school and met others with different strengths and weaknesses
as somebody who considered himself a sort of social outcast, I spent every moment in the local public libraries I possibly could. when I'd read everything I wanted to read in the kids' section, I sought (and of course received) "permission" to take out books from the "adult" section, where I discovered the Reference section and historical novels in the fiction aisles.
the magic in a library, of course, isn't so much in finding the title you've searched out in the card catalog, but in the discoveries you make among the other books close-by.
now that libraries tend to have fewer and fewer physical books, I fear that this is an experience people just won't have. I feel sorry for them. and I have no idea what the final result is going to be, but I'm pretty sure it's gonna SUCK.
my best friend is an accomplished linguist and when I complain to him about the abominations I see and hear perpetrated on some of my favorite English words, he nods sagely and says "languages always change." my answer, which has become standard, is "yeah, and a lot of the time, they DEVOLVE." he doesn't disagree, and one piece of proof is that whenever someone on television uses the "I should have went" construction (increasingly common), we cringe in perfect simultaneity.
I have some real respect for John McWhorter (who is nothing like as "Conservative" as he's portrayed as being), but I saw him recently talk about how Shakespeare should be performed in everyday English if most people are going to find the plays amusing; his other option is that people PREPARE for seeing a play by Shakespeare. obviously, the latter point of view is correct. but what's the big fucking deal? so...you PREPARE. I've taken to watching a lot of Shakespeare on tv with closed captions, and I think it's probably the best way. but why is this considered so undesirable, this need to prepare? I don't get it. or, if I do, I prefer not to dwell on it.
so yeah, I get all of it.
and my social outcast status was the result of a stammer which itself is just the flagship symptom of my own neurodiversity. I can't skate either. that I learned to ride a bicycle still amazes me.
I agree 109% but I know two people who do the тАЬI have wentтАЭ thing (they were never on television, canтАЩt imagine) and they are not ignoramuses. One skipped eighth grade years ago because she was so smart, the other was just so blatantly learning disabled. One loved school and learning, the other not so much. Still I cringe but dare not do more. As to Shakespeare being performed in everyday English, spare me. I prefer not to be so тАЬamused.тАЭ Just requires more than a nanosecond second of attentionтАж
Wow. what a great post. I didn't have the reading deficiency, but I definitely educated myself during the 12 years of Publick Misedumacation in the stacks every other Saturday at the Denver Public Library, wandering around and reading whatever interested me in science fiction, history, aviation, etc.
Addendum. I didn't know I couldn't read, because I knew or could recognize the answers and seemed sorta smart. We were fortunate.
Wow, a good friend that I thought was just uninterested in reading/school, turned out to have a serious learning disability with a horrific birth history. He was very bright, reading just not his thing. Could take apart and reassemble anything with a motor. Since school was not hard for me, I had no clue til I worked at high school and met others with different strengths and weaknesses
we were.
as somebody who considered himself a sort of social outcast, I spent every moment in the local public libraries I possibly could. when I'd read everything I wanted to read in the kids' section, I sought (and of course received) "permission" to take out books from the "adult" section, where I discovered the Reference section and historical novels in the fiction aisles.
the magic in a library, of course, isn't so much in finding the title you've searched out in the card catalog, but in the discoveries you make among the other books close-by.
now that libraries tend to have fewer and fewer physical books, I fear that this is an experience people just won't have. I feel sorry for them. and I have no idea what the final result is going to be, but I'm pretty sure it's gonna SUCK.
my best friend is an accomplished linguist and when I complain to him about the abominations I see and hear perpetrated on some of my favorite English words, he nods sagely and says "languages always change." my answer, which has become standard, is "yeah, and a lot of the time, they DEVOLVE." he doesn't disagree, and one piece of proof is that whenever someone on television uses the "I should have went" construction (increasingly common), we cringe in perfect simultaneity.
I have some real respect for John McWhorter (who is nothing like as "Conservative" as he's portrayed as being), but I saw him recently talk about how Shakespeare should be performed in everyday English if most people are going to find the plays amusing; his other option is that people PREPARE for seeing a play by Shakespeare. obviously, the latter point of view is correct. but what's the big fucking deal? so...you PREPARE. I've taken to watching a lot of Shakespeare on tv with closed captions, and I think it's probably the best way. but why is this considered so undesirable, this need to prepare? I don't get it. or, if I do, I prefer not to dwell on it.
so yeah, I get all of it.
and my social outcast status was the result of a stammer which itself is just the flagship symptom of my own neurodiversity. I can't skate either. that I learned to ride a bicycle still amazes me.
I agree 109% but I know two people who do the тАЬI have wentтАЭ thing (they were never on television, canтАЩt imagine) and they are not ignoramuses. One skipped eighth grade years ago because she was so smart, the other was just so blatantly learning disabled. One loved school and learning, the other not so much. Still I cringe but dare not do more. As to Shakespeare being performed in everyday English, spare me. I prefer not to be so тАЬamused.тАЭ Just requires more than a nanosecond second of attentionтАж
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Damn the lot and louts.